


The Voter/The Assassination of Payton Hobart

by lizadurds



Series: I may not be Wise [5]
Category: The Politician (TV 2019)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:14:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28569063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizadurds/pseuds/lizadurds
Summary: Part 5/6 of the I May Not Be Wise - What If River Never Died series
Relationships: Alice Charles/Payton Hobart, River Barkley/Astrid Sloan, River Barkley/Payton Hobart, Skye Leighton/McAfee Westbrook
Series: I may not be Wise [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1890478
Kudos: 2





	1. The Voter

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya, It's been a while, and I want to talk to you about why this update may look a little different to the previous ones. As I'm sure you all know. Episode 5 of season 1 (The Voter) very much focuses on a side character Elliot that features in only this episode. I wasn't going to waste my precious fanfiction time going around following a character that wasn't even relevant to the plot. This meant that Part 5 of this series was only 4000 words, now after surveying my Instagram followers (@/cerealeatingduo) and a number of discord servers, it appeared to me that readers prefer longer fics (Say around 10000 words) now my fics only average around 7000 words anyway so I felt by updating a story with less than 4000 words I would be robbing you of your time. So I decided to merge both The Voter and The Assassination Of Payton Hobart Part 1 together, I hope you enjoy and sorry for being dead.

“This kidnapped Astrid Sloan girl is quite the story you know her?” Elliot’s father says not looking up from his newspaper

“Seen her around” Elliot shrugs

“She turned that student body president election into real news. Made the LA Times, I only read the headline but It’s on the front cover of the metro section, who are you voting for?” he asked Elliot shook his head when his mother spoke up for him, for that he was grateful

“He’s got more important things to worry about” _exactly right mum_ he thought to himself

“Than his civic duty?” his father scoffed

“Yes. Like passing English”

“He speaks English just fine” he waved

“It’s just two rich kids fighting for attention”

“Scrambled eggs again?” Elliot spoke up as his mother put his plate in front of him

“You want fancy eggs? Make em yourself little Prince George” his mother retorted

“I could if I wanted to” he whispers under his breath. He zoned out when his younger sister started talking about a Netflix documentary, his father continued on his rant about voting but Elliot didn’t care, he just wanted to stay in bed all day jacking off, that wouldn’t change no matter who won the St Sebastian’s high school presidential election.

* * *

Elliot was approached in the hallway by Kris, he didn’t bother to take his headphones off until he realised Kris wasn’t going anywhere. “I just wanted to make sure that you knew about the election today and how important it is that we as students make our voices heard. As you know these two candidates stand for similar issues but I’m not sure if you’re away of Payton Hobart’s latest comments but I think varsity football captain Reggie Water said it best when he called it ‘just politics as usual’” it was that moment Elliot realised he didn’t even know who he was talking to

“Wait. Who are you?”

“I’m Kris, the chief data strategist for Together: We’re One, the campaign to elect River Barkley, according to our research, which I guess is my research- because that’s m role in the campaign, and can I just say as a sidebar there is no candidate more passionate and dedicated than River, but according to our research, you’re just one of a handful of undecided voters who have yet to express a preference for a candidate so I just wanted to double check that you had all the information to make an informed choice when you step into that voting booth anytime after fifth period until the polls close at 3:30”

“Yeah okay” Elliot didn’t care, he just wanted to get out of there and never see Kris again

“Uh, for instance did you know that Payton Hobart has funneled thousands of dollars of his parent’s wealth into his own campaign, I mean I wouldn’t go as far as to call it dirty money but wouldn’t you agree there should be less money in politics not more?”

“I don’t know” Elliot was near his breaking point, how could one person talk this much about another

“Exactly right, I don’t know how Payton Hobart sleeps at night thinking he can just buy his way through this election, but I guess it just goes to show how out of touch he really is. Elliot”

“Yeah thanks” Elliot had walked away from Kris but she was still following him

“And you might have heard something in this media circus about Skye Leighton quitting his campaign but not to worry because he just elected Pierre Toussaint as his running mate, that makes him the first Haitian VP candidate in school history”

“Amazing” Elliot sighed sarcastically

“So when you wear that pin you’ll be sending a strong message to Big Bucks Payton, the status quo has got to go” Kris handed him a badge with River’s name printed across it “Will you commit to wearing this pin and telling the moneyed interests at this school that you’re tired of business as usual?”

“Okay fine” Elliot sighed praying this will finally get rid of her

“Thank you Elliot, I really admire you, now let’s make history together, I have got to let River know. He’s been asking me all day ‘have you talked to Elliot?’ so I will tell him that you are in, again really good reconnecting with you” Elliot sighed a breath of relief when Kris finally left him alone he almost immediately put the River badge in the bin.

* * *

“Hey, Amir Everett right?” Payton asked a boy standing in the bathroom

“Yeah”

“How’s it going, Payton Hobart, I’m running for student body president. Our research say that you are one of the still undecided students so I thought that maybe a little one on one time might convince you to hop off the fence onto our side”

“Wait. How do you know I’m undecided?” Amir asked

“Well, we have an algorithm that goes through student social media posts, it’s all totally legal plus human intelligence gathering. The important part is that we pay attention okay? We care about you as individual which is why I really wanted to apologise to you personally for Infinity’s homophobic slur, alright? I know that you’re out and proud and I wanted to make sure that you don’t think I condone it in anyway, that’s why I kicked her off the ticket” Payton explained

“That was pretty bold” Amir beamed “I appreciate that” “Yeah” Payton paused for a moment thinking of a way to connect with Amir

“Hey, have you seen Hamilton?”

“Yeah like three times” he grinned

“Yeah me too” “Thanks for talking Payton” Amir smiled

“I think you can count me getting off the fence now”

“Oh that’s music to my ears Amir, thank you” James walked into the bathroom moments after Amir left

“We got him” Payton says fixing his red suit in the mirror

“Nice. You mention Hamilton?” James asked

“Who do you think you’re dealing with” Payton scoffed “Who’s next?”

“A junior named Elliot Beachman” James says reading a piece of paper

“Hm, never heard of him” Payton shrugged

“I’ll take it, he’s some woodshop loser, no need to waste your time”

“Don’t talk like that” Payton bites “He’s irrelevant, if we didn’t need his vote he could die tomorrow, no one would notice” James shrugged

“Which is exactly why I’m running for president. No kid should feel that way” Payton left James alone in the bathroom.

* * *

James stood outside the bathroom pulling down River Barkley campaign posters when Elliot emerged from the bathroom “Hey Elliot right?”

“I know I’m late I was taking a dump” Elliot rolled his eyes and turned around

“Dude, who do you think I am? The hall monitor?” James scoffed “I’m James I’m working on Payton’s campaign

“Okay” Elliot shrugged

“It’s good to see you. So listen, I hear you’re undecided about the election, I know politicts can be really boring sometimes, it’s like who cares right? But actually Payton’s gonna be making a huge announcement today at the final debate, you should definitely be there. It’d be really cool if you came”

“Sure” Elliot shrugs

“You know voting starts at fifth period?” James asked

“Yeah, I know” Elliot was uninterested in James’ words

“I just thought of something. What are you doing at 2:15?”

“I have math”

“Oh, no, F that, you know what? I’ll come pull you out of class, walk you to the polls and then you have the rest of the period to screw around, could probably go home after that. Oh, dude, no when’s you lunch? Fourth? Dude how about instead of sitting by yourself, you sit with me and my friends and we all go vote right after? Do you know Decker and Jerry? Might not they’re seniors but uh yeah dude, just come and hang with us and dude. Decker’s girlfriend Shana’s throwing a party this weekend so like just come and have lunch and I’ll be like ‘dude’s I’m bringing this kid’ that was the last straw from Elliot he turned around and punched James “Oh shit, you just broke my nose you asshole”

* * *

Elliot walked into the assembly where Payton was speaking “And so some people could chose to say, this campaign has become extremely negative, it’s full of anger and vitriol and so I’m not interested but I see it differently, aright? I believe that this race has inspired such passion because we all know what’s at stake here” A teacher began giving Elliot a lecture about the importance of coming to assembly and gave him a detention while Payton continued to speak “But there is one person here who can speak about my opponent better than anyone, she was River’s girlfriend, and now she’s making history as one of the first ever campaign members to switch teams, so I’m going to let her talk about what it felt like to make the right decision, ladies and gentlemen please allow me to introduce the next vice president of St Sebastian’s Astrid Sloan”

“Thank you, thank you. Thank you so much you’re too kind, thank you so much Payton. I am so happy to be joining a campaign that I can believe in. let me say a few things about my former boyfriend River Barkley, actually let me say a few things to my former boyfriend River Barkley. River, what the hell were you thinking, I mean how out of touch can somebody be, you basically haven’t done a single thing for your campaign, you made me do every little thing on behalf of you, and then when I quit you made poor Skye’s life a living hell too. Kris if you ever need a place to be Payton’s campaign will welcome you with open arms. Were you high River? are you high right now? I mean I get it we all get stressed, you know I’m sure a lot of folks around here when they’ve had a really rough day they think to themselves, ‘you know what I oughta do? I oughta give up on everything completely and make everyone else do everything for me’ we get it River, we’ve all been there-“

“Ms Sloan if you’ll please wrap it up”

“I was just getting started folks, anyway River, I’m glad you’ve finally decided to step up to the plate. I’ll just in closing say this, a vote for this ticket is not just a vote for me and Payton. It’s a vote for every woman and is a vote for progress at St Sebastian’s and it happens today. Now let’s go make history” a series of cheers came from the audience as Astrid sat down

“River Barkley your opening remarks?”

“Connor, I am not going to stoop that low, that was tasteless, unspirited and very off brand for everything I know about the Payton Hobart campaign, and I think you students have just seen a great example of what you get if you choose to let these people represent you, shame on you Astrid. Both Payton and this school deserve better than you. My decision to break up with you, and remove you from my team was the best thing I could have done. Ladies and gentlemen I am so proud to introduce St Sebastian’s High school’s first ever Haitian born vice presidential candidate, Pierre Toussaint”

“Thank you so much River, wow. River and I are proud to announce our nine point plan to make this school greener, safer and a more integrated part of this community making each and every one of us better global citizens along the way, but you know what? something just occurred to me as I was sitting there, you what I want to happen this year? I want drake to come play a concert here, wouldn’t that be awesome? Who all here would like to have drake come do a show for everybody here?” the room erupted in applause as Pierre tried to talk over the yelling and screaming “I want our prom at Santa Barbara Hall and then at midnight drake takes the stage and does a show all night, St Sebastian’s this is my promise to you. We’ll raise however much money it takes to fly him here, and drake will give us the sickest prom night ever. Let’s do this St Sebastian’s”

“Thank your Mr Toussaint” Connor responds as Pierre sat down “Payton, freshman Dolly Andricks has a question for you” Payton stood up and walked to the podium “everyone, I will ask you again to please hold your applause until the end of the debate” In that moment Infinity game running into the auditorium with an air horn screaming

“She ran away with my boyfriend, Payton Hobart used me for my cancer, and Astrid ran away with my boyfriend and they had sex. He said he saw you eat your own boogers” when a number of teachers swarmed around Infinity she yelled “I’m going”

* * *

McAfee stood at the doors to the auditorium as everybody began to make their exit “Excuse me I’m doing some post debate exit polling, would you be willing to answer a few questions? Could you please stop walking for a second?” She asked Elliot who had reluctantly stopped to talk to McAfee “Name please?” she asked “Elliot”

“Last name?” when McAfee didn’t receive a response she opened her mouth again “Beachman, your last name is Beachman just for future reference. You were at the debate right? Did the debate change your opinion on either candidate?”

“No”

“Can you explain why?” Elliot’s one word answers were beginning to get on her nerves

“I dunno. Just don’t really care”

“Okay, are you leaning towards one candidate over the other?”

“no”

“Okay so no preference. Was there any moment in the debate that stood out to you?”

“Not really”

“Do you remember anything said during the debate?”

“no”

“Okay so not when one candidate promised to bring a major recording artist to perform live at our high school?”

“Yeah I don’t know”

“Or when the former vice presidential candidate interrupted and started screaming that her replacement eats her own boogers? Okay this has been extremely inspiring Elliot thank you so much for your time” Elliot walked away and Payton came up to McAfee

“Any luck?” he asked

“No” she frowned “James did a straw pole and the late deciders are breaking for the ‘River, Pierre, drake performing at our prom’ ticket we’re now only up by two points which is within the margin of error, depending on turnout we could either win by six or lose by four. We need to lock down every undecided including that kid, something tells me he’s gonna require some one on one attention."

* * *

Elliot sat down at his lunch table listening to his friends argue over the whole drake thing. “I’m like finally, they’re talking about something I actually care about” Derek says

“Really Derek? Cause an issue that I care about is not getting shot, and Payton’s trying to move the needle on the gun policy in this country”

“Please. He’s not changing anything” Derek scoffs

“There should be at least metal detectors when you walk into the school. Do you wanna get shot Derek?”

“Um I’m pretty sure River also cares about school safety, it’s not like she’s pro guns in schools”

“Yeah but it’s Payton’s signature issue”

“Well my signature issue is having an awesome prom”

“You’re such an idiot Derek, think about what you just said”

“Can you think about how awesome Drake would be?”

“My cousin goes to a high school in Oklahoma and some kid brought a friggin grenade to school, like an actual hand grenade from world war two”

“Dude, a grenade from world war two probably wouldn’t even work anymore” Derek scoffed

“That’s not the point of the story”

“Are you seriously worried that if River get’s elected kids are gonna start bringing world war two grenades to school? it’s probably not even illegal”

“You are such an asshole Derek, that’s not what I’m talking about. My cousin was so freaked out she didn’t go to school for a month” Fed up with their anger Elliot moved and sat by himself on the other side of the cafeteria

“Hi, I’m River” he smiled “I was just wondering if you knew who you were voting for this afternoon, because I don’t know if you were at the debate but it was pretty amazing, we have some really exciting things planned for the school, I don’t know if you’ve heard but among other things we’re really excited to bring drake here to perform. Either for prom or like a stand alone concert or something”

“Hey Elliot” Payton smiled sitting across from River

“Oh hey Payton, Elliot and I were just in the middle of a conversation” River smiled

“Listen I 100% get that this race isn’t that interesting to you, honestly I do not blame you” Payton says

“Elliot do you know that Payton wants to be president of the united states one day” River says. Payton gave him a confused look and went back to talking to Elliot

“I seriously get it man, I feel you the race is almost over. if you could just help our campaign we have the chance to enact some real change at this school. I’m not exaggerating when I say that your vote could literally change history”

“Do your parent work for a living Elliot?” River asked “I bet they don’t love their jobs as much as Payton does, he genuinely cares so much about the students at St Sebastian’s”

“River what is your deal? You are meant to be running your own campaign, I know I was mad the day I found out you were running but I want to fight a fair and even campaign” Payton snaps turning to him

“Just trying to tell him the truth, you have been a pleasure to run against” he smiled

“You two seem like you’re having some sort of lovers spat that I don’t want to get involved in so I’m just gonna-“ Elliot stood up to leave

“Vote for Payton” they both said in unison. Payton glared at River but River just smirked in response.

* * *

“Hey can I talk to him?” Payton whispered standing at the door of Elliot’s math class

“Yeah but keep it down” the teacher whispered Payton pulled up a chair to Elliot’s desk

“Hey I’m sorry about what happened in the lunchroom”

“If I tell you I’ll vote for you will you leave me alone?”

“Yes” Payton smiled “Did you know that there were two researchers at Stanford University who discovered that if you could get someone to say out loud that they’re gonna vote then they’re like twice as likely to go through with it”

“So you want me to say it then?” Elliot looked up from his math book

“Well I’d rather just have someone waiting for you outside from my campaign and then they can walk you to the polls as soon as you’re done here”

“I’m not an idiot” Elliot sighs

“Oh no I do not think that you are, I just think that you’re unmotivated. I think that you think what’s the point in voting when no matter who wins your life doesn’t change, so help me motivate you. Why don’t you tell me the stuff that would make a difference to you. What do you care about?”

“I think students here should have their own bathrooms. Just like the teachers do. so you can lock the door, not worry about people coming in and out banging on the stall doors, interrupting”

“Yeah. It’s not very cost effective but I do understand the attraction, many of us have stage fright when it comes to going in front of other people, what about the class divide at this school? you live on the other side of Hermosa road right? What many would consider ‘the other side of the tracks’ think the school focuses too much on the well to do kids?”

“Yeah” Elliot scoffs, could Payton really not see the irony in his words?

“Can you elaborate on that a little?” he asked “Just say a little more about it?”

“I dunno. I think the vending machines here are kinda bullshit, I mean why should sun chips be a dollar less than peanut m&ms? And we should be able to buy flamin hot Cheetos if we want”

“A libertarian”

“I just don’t like getting ripped off”

“I can talk to the administration about making changes to the vending machines, maybe a subsidy for the low income students”

“Yeah. Whatever, maybe you will, maybe you won’t”

“Hey Elliot?” Payton asked standing up “I care”

* * *

Georgina stood outside the school putting up Payton Hobart campaign posters when she saw a girl running out of the school crying “Oh, Dear, why are you crying?” “They won’t let me vote” she sobbed

“I lost my student ID and they won’t let me vote without one”

“I’m Georgina Hobart, I’m Payton’s mother, and you come with me right now” they walked into the school and Georgina began speaking with the voter administration “This young lady would like to vote”

“She can’t without a student ID those are the rules” The admin assistant shook his head “Otherwise they’d bus in a bunch of kids from other schools to vote illegally”

“That’s insane” Georgina scoffed “She’s clearly a student here”

“I don’t know her? Do you know her?” he turned to the assistant sitting next to him

“Maybe. Are you in my trig class?”

“I don’t take trig I’m a freshman”

“Excuse me, yoohoo” Georgina waved to Elliot “Young man could you come over here please?” she asked “Do you know this young lady?”

“I don’t think so” Elliot shook his head

“Do you know him?” Georgina asked the girl

“No”

“Do you know him?” She asked the administration assistants, they both shook their head

“No” they said in unison

“Oh for god sakes what kind of a school community is this? Does anyone know anyone?” Georgina asked

“You know what? forget it. This isn’t worth it” the girl turned to leave

“Not worth it?” Georgina asks shocked “People have fought and died for your right to vote. Haven’t you heard of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner?”

“Do they go here too?” she asked

“They were killed by the ku klux klan for registering voters in Mississippi” Georgina scoffed

“Woah lady are you sayin we’re the Klan?” the male admin assistant asked

“I’m saying this is voter suppression and it’s illegal. This school has to be a model, not only for all the other schools but for our country as a whole”

“I wasn’t going to vote for your son anyway”

“Well it’s the principle of the thing” she smiled

“Maybe we can have her submit a provisional ballot and if she can prove that she goes here then we’ll count the vote” the assistant said

“No. she will vote today. Have you ever heard of the fifteenth amendment? Would you like to go through that line by line” Georgina yelled. Elliot took this as his chance to escape backing out of the school when she was bombarded by Kris. She began to talk and he pushed her down the stairs before going home.


	2. The Assassination Of Payton Hobart (Part 1)

“And lastly, to everyone who cast a vote for my opponent, I promise I will be an equally as brilliant president as River Barkley would have been. I pledge to be a president of every student in this school and I will make sure that your voices are heard too” Payton stood in the bathroom rehearsing his acceptance speech

“Woah there Payton, you haven’t won quite just yet” River leant against the doorway of the bathroom

“Well, I think we all know whose going to win”

“Don’t worry Payton, I didn’t even plan an acceptance speech, it’s obvious who the people prefer”

“Well the internal polls showed a higher than expected rate of voter turnout, maybe those extra voters worked in your favour” Payton smiled

“I can only hope” River shook his head “Thought you had the best campaign management team. Surely you’d know you have like a seventy percent chance at winning”

“Well that still leaves thirty percent” Payton turned to face him “Listen, the vote is gonna close in an hour, and I know that this campaign has been hard on you. You’ve been through a lot with the whole… you know I’m sorry I gave you such a hard time about running and all”

“It’s okay Payton, I know how badly you wanted this and me running only got in your way. Hey, congratulations by the way” River smiled “I bet you’re getting truckloads of texts from your team freaking out. You’re president Payton”

“Well uh not yet. The polls don’t close for an hour and the votes haven’t been counted”

“And they’re not gonna be. They’re being dumped outside as we speak, see a few minutes ago I sent around a school wide email announcing my withdrawal from the race. So principal Vaughn agreed that counting the votes would be pointless”

“Why-Why would you do that” Payton shakes his head

“I know how badly you wanted this Payton. I didn’t want to screw up our friendship on the off chance I maybe won”

“But that wouldn’t have happened. Voter turnout was up and the late deciders were breaking for me”

“You said so yourself. 70% isn’t enough. There was still a thirty percent chance I could have won. And I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself if that happened. I mean you’re still president so you have won”

“Yeah. An office with no meaning which no one can respect, screw you River I would have won. I’m glad you still have so much faith in me”

“You ran a hell of a campaign Payton, don’t beat yourself up over it. And hey, deep breaths” River left Payton alone, as if he didn’t believe River’s words Payton almost immediately ran outside only to see exactly what River had described. The electoral staff were emptying the ballot boxes into bins left right and centre. There was no more election to be won. Payton ran down a hallway in search of James and McAfee.

* * *

“Why don’t you answer your phone” James yelled when he saw him

“What can we do?” Payton asked McAfee

“Nothing. They’ve closed polls and thrown out ballots” she breathed

“We can kiss any mandate goodbye”

“Well we can uhm file an appeal” Payton suggests

“Appeal what? your victory?” James scoffs

“Pyrrhic victory is the term, one that is tantamount to defeat because it is devoid of any value or meaning”

The anger fuming through Payton’s body he threw himself against the wall _Breathe._

* * *

Infinity sat in the hospital hallway as Ray walked down it dressed as a clown. He saw Infinity and stopped

“Infinity, what are you doing here?” he asked confused

“You’re pathetic” she yells standing up

“I’m on to you creep”

“Look I’m not a professional clown, I just like helping kids” he said trying to diffuse the situation that was well past that point

“Shut up Ray” she sighed “I know everything, and I have enough evidence to put you away forever. So unless you want to spend the rest of your life in prison, you’re gonna have to do what I want. And I have two demands”

* * *

“All those in favour?” the principal stood at a panel and watched as an audience raised their hands “The motion passes, the next item I would like to introduce, St Sebastian’s new student body president and vice president Payton Hobart and Astrid Sloan. Congratulations on your victory”

“Oh thank you Principal Vaughn. Members of the board, I am… I’m humbled to stand before you today. Drinking straws have been around since the third Millennium BCE, since the ancient Sumerians used straws made of gold, Ryegrass eventually became used and then paper, and in 1955, single use straws made of plastic became the norm. Now over 500 million straws are used and thrown away each and every day, that’s enough straws to wrap around our earth two and a half times. It’s an ecological disaster and a moral catastrophe. Board members, I come before you here to propose that St Sebastian’s ban the use of all single use plastic straws for the cost of just one penny per straw we can join the city of Malibu and McDonald’s UK and become part of the solution to this looming environmental catastrophe”

“A penny per straw? The school goes through thousands of straws every day. That’s a lot of money” a board member says

“Where do you propose the money comes from” another board member asks. Payton opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by yet another board member

“Mr Hobart you should know that straws are part of an omnibus cafeteria supplies contract we have with Cali Food Services so we’ll be getting plastic straws through the year 2025 anyway. That’s tens of thousands of straws, what do we do with them? Throw them away?”

“Also this just came to my mind. A lot of kids like chewing on plastic straws. I sometimes do. sort of an oral fixation thing and I wonder if we get rid of those straws are these kids gonna be more likely to smoke cigarettes or vape? Do you have any data on that?”

“That’s uhm definitely something we can look into” Payton nods. He was becoming flustered by the thought of his idea being shut down. He hadn’t prepared for this

“Before the board take the vote on this-“ Principal Vaughn was interrupted by a board member as well

“So we are taking a straw poll?” he questions clearly inimpressed by the idea

“All those in favour?” when nobody raised their hand Principal Vaughn began to speak again “Motion is denied. Thank you Payton, and congratulations again”

“Thank you” he stammers sitting back down next to Astrid.

* * *

Dusty banged on the door of a motel room

“Infinity” she cried “Answer me I know you’re in there”

“How’d you find me here?” she questions

“Ray, he told me. come on let me in. I can’t talk to you through a crack in the door”

“Tough titties Nana” She huffed

“Infinity please, it’ll just take a minute I promise then I’ll leave” Infinity groaned and got up to open the door for her grandmother

“How are you affording this?” she questioned

“You should ask Ray that. He’s the one paying for it. It’s a place of my own until I graduate and all the pistachio and framboise macarons that I want, that’s my price for not sending him to prison”

“Oh Honey, you can’t just eat macarons. You’re gonna end up with diabetes”

“But that’s nana that’s on you. I’d never even tried a macaron until you got us into club 33 at Disney land, guess what? from now on I only want fancy things in my life”

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing?”

“No?”

“I mean I don’t even recognise you” Dusty went to go light a cigarette

“You can’t smoke in here” Infinity shakes her head

“Oh of course I can smoke in here”

“You can’t smoke in here” she reiterates

“Nana? How did my mum die?” she questions

“Well now, why? Why would you ask me something that you already know? she died of kidney failure”

“yeah. But what caused the kidney failure”

“I mean if we had known that maybe we could have helped her” Dusty lies.

“So, look, all her blood tests say that she had lead poisoning but was never treated for it, maybe that’s because Ray, was the technician who never told the doctors. Is that how you and Ray met?”

“Now you just hold on-“

“There’s lead in our basement”

“I know that. That’s why I never let you or your mother go down there, because it wasn’t safe”

“But you did. You went down into the basement all the time”

“What are you saying? That- that I went down into the basement and peeled paint chips off the wall and fed them to your mother?”

“Yeah. That’s exactly what I think”

“That is insane”

“You’ve been poisoning me! that’s insane! Nana it makes sense, I mean you learned how to do it on her right? That kept her around”

“Don’t drink so much juice”

“You’re not the boss of me! and you realised all the attention you were getting right?”

“This is an outrageous and evil lie”

“I have made copies Nana, of all these papers and they are sitting in a post office box that I told Ricardo to open if anything happens to me. so you know what? I want an all expenses paid trip to Paris Nana. Unlimited funds. I wanna do Paris right. Freedom is what I need right now, I wanna go to the restaurant in ratatouille, the one where the rat cooks”

“That’s an animated film Infinity, rats don’t actually work there”

“if you can pull that off, I might -Might! Consider coming to your funeral. Now get the hell out of my apartment, before I call the cops” Dusty reluctantly left Infinity’s apartment with a smug smile on her face.

* * *

Dusty poured Ricardo a glass of wine

“I’m not sure I should drink that, I’m only 18”

“Oh come on, I am sure you have done things more illegal than take a few sips of red win”

“Okay, look, the things that Infinity and I maybe have don, those are consensual”

“Well I think you are a great influence on Infinity, I hope you two get married and have babies. I think it would be so wonderful to have you as part of our family” Dusty puts a plate of food in front of Ricardo and squishes his cheek

“Wow!” Ricardo beams “That’s great! I didn’t know that, I mean, me too. I just wish Infinity felt that way, cos she stopped speaking to me”

“Oh, well, now, Infinity is going through some growing pains, and I understand that but, wow, she has some ideas in her head. They’re crazy, and I have to think, where would she be getting these ideas, who would be poisoning that little girl against me? against the both of us?”

“Payton” Ricardo responds with a scoff

“That’s right. Payton. If it weren’t for him, she’d be sittin here right now at this table with us, her family. Listening to Shirley Bassey and watching me drink” Dusty’s comment caused Ricardo to stop and think for a moment

“So what. you want me to kill him?”

“Yes. Yes I do”

“I’m gonna have to think about that”

“Oh, and well you should. You should think about that long and hard. He took her away from us. And she will come back, if he is out of the picture”

“I don’t like him” Ricardo says in a loud whisper

“Now, I think the key here is, to find a way to do it so that the suspicion doesn’t swing back on us” Ricardo stares at her

“What?” she asks

“I just don’t understand why you would do all that stuff to her”

“What stuff? Making her sick? You see, that is why that Payton is so insidious. Because he makes some outlandish claim that is based on no facts and simply because it’s so outrageous it stick in your head and you think, ‘could that be true?’ let’s just say, I did do it. What if I made her sick? I mean, I’m not saying I did, but what if? Wasn’t she happier. She’s all alone, livin in a motel for god’s sake, you know people say to me ‘Dusty, you are a saint’ but I’m no saint, I’m just a little old country girl. Hey. Did you know what my first job was when I came out here to California? I was modelling, for those uh, Santa Barbara car shows. Well I had no trouble attracting the attention of men. In fact I attracted a little too much attention and then Richard gets me pregnant and the day I tell him is the last day I ever see him, and then suddenly there I am all alone, with this beautiful baby in my arms, oh m god. I wish you could have seen her. Infinity’s mama was oh. She was so beautiful, she was just like a little doll baby. And I thought ‘well at least she’ll never leave me’ and then low and behold, she turns 17 and I can’t do anything right. But then she gets knocked up. She doesn’t want to be under this roof but she’s got nowhere to go. She can’t raise that baby on her own. That’s when… I made some mistakes. I just couldn’t let her ruin her life and Infinity’s by leaving, she needed a reason to stay, and I gave it to her. And after she got sick, we were so close again, all the yellin and fightin, that was all over. we were a family again and her death, her death was tragic. There’s no way around that, I mean I was devastated, but then, I had this little girl again. It was like I’d stepped through some kind of time warp. Only this time, I could change the ending of that story. I didn’t have to watch someone I love walk out he door. If. I’m saying if I’d done that. Besides, we just got so much free stuff. So, I guess we know what needs to happen here don’t we Ricardo”

* * *

Georgina walked into Payton’s room with a pizza box, he was perched on the windowsill in front of his computer

“Oh my god what is this?” she asked disgusted

“It’s doctor pimple popper” he sighed contently

“You mean, there’s a tv show about a lady who just pops pimples?” she asked intrigued by the premise. Payton mumbled a confirmation eyes glued to his screen “How did I miss this? This is brilliant”

“I just like that it has a really clear narrative you know? bad things are excised. Happy ending every time” Payton sighs opening the lid to the pizza box but closing it again without taking any out “I think I’m falling into a clinical depression”

“I know sweetheart” Georgina sighs

“Its because you don’t take any time to enjoy yourself” River appeared in his doorway. Payton smiled a little at the sound of his voice

“That’s not who I am” Payton closed his laptop to focus his attention on River “I’m not about enjoyment. I’m about winning”

“I know. I’m sorry” River frowns

“I’m about making the world a better place, and you took that from me” Payton’s voice wasn’t angry. It was pure sadness and that made River’s heart ache

“If I remember correctly, you stole my girlfriend and my running mate” River smiled a bit and watched as Georgina disappeared from the room

“Ex girlfriend, and I didn’t steal Skye she came to me”

“Winning can’t be the only thing you enjoy” River replaced Georgina’s spot on the bench

“I feel stuff when I’m with you” Payton locks eyes with River and then turns away “Not happiness per say, but, just a connection to something, outside the blur of my own ambition and thwarted dreams” River smiled listening to Payton’s words

“You did it Payton, who care’s if you can’t get healthy snacks into the cafeteria, or an emotional support pig in the classroom? This is our senior year, you should be enjoying yourself, eat some pizza- or I will” he laughs leaning over Payton to grab a slice of pizza

“I don’t know how to enjoy myself” Payton shakes his head

“Would you like some advice? Bring music into your life. Remember that day we played the piano together? You were happy then, I could see it in your eyes”

* * *

“Hello again, everyone. St Sebastian’s is home to 57 drinking fountains. Now almost two dozen are rarely used and nine, this may come as a shock to you. In a week of monitoring, were not used at all. This is a waste of energy and it is taxpayer dollars literally going down the drain, so I’m here to propose a plan that would remove 15 of the lowest performing drinking fountains and use the revenue saved to replace the remainder with state of the art eco conscious fountains-“

“Motion denied, thank you Payton. We’re gonna take a short recess and reconvene in five minutes”

“This is a disaster” Skye says turning to McAfee and River

“Yeah they don’t seem at all interested in water use policy” McAfee shakes her head

“I think she means Payton” River says before standing up and following Payton out of the board room

“Payton’s has absolutely no agenda. We need him out of the way so we can do something” Skye continues

“What do you mean?” McAfee questions

“Why are we talking straws and water fountains? We should be up there asking why girls participation in sports is half of what is among boys. It’s like a title nine issue right there ‘you should be president Skye’ that’s what you’re thinking”

“I didn’t say that” she smirks

“You didn’t have to. We need to get rid of him McAfee”

* * *

River found Payton in the library staring at his computer, he looked brain dead. River closed his computer and sat across from him forcing Payton to look up at him

“Why are they doing this to me” he moaned “I’m giving them sensible, common sense proposals”

“I for one love your water fountain idea”

“Of course you do. it’s you. But I need Principal Vaughn to love it”

“Why don’t you ask her why she’s against it and you can reformulate the idea”

“Come with me. Principal Vaughn likes you. In fact I bet if _you_ pitch her my idea she would say yes. You just have that way with people”

“Payton, you won the election. I dropped out because I knew you could make a difference. This is your thing and you should can do it by yourself”

“You know you won the election by two votes?” Payton blurts “Yeah, I’ve already asked Vaughn why she keeps shooting me down and it’s because she still sees you as the president. But whatever I guess it’s my problem isn’t it. I’ll see you next week River” Payton stood up and stormed out grabbing his laptop on the way.

* * *

Payton knocked on Infinity’s door

“What do you want?” she asked opening it

“I was wondering um. Can I buy you dinner?”

Infinity devoured her food bite after bite

“You look great” he smiled “Definitely got your appetite back”

“Well, food finally tastes normal again. Chemo made everything taste spice, like if there was one speck of pepper. My whole mouth would burn like it was on fire” she laughed

“Infinity um, I think I owe you an enormous apology”

“Why? I mean, you said it yourself. You saved my life”

“Yeah, but I went about it all wrong. I was a politician and not a human being” he sighed “What happened to you is terrible, and I just got caught up in it because of my... my ambition you know? but I have an idea that I think could be really great for you, it’s something I’m gonna do to try and enjoy my last few months here. try at least and I really think that it might actually be fun if we did it together”

“What is it?” she questioned eating her last few chips

* * *

Payton stood on the stage of the auditorium

“hello I’m Payton Hobart and I will be auditioning for any of the male leads” he speaks nervously

“He’s amazing” River called from somewhere out of Payton’s eyeline

“I didn’t even know you could sing” the audition manager scoffs

“Trust me, he doesn’t even need to audition” River walked down the aisle between the rows of chairs “Just give John Hinckley to him” River smiles at Payton

“I’d at least like to hear him sing firs-“ the audition manager starts

“He’ll be fantastic” River stops him

Defeated the audition manager sighs and says “Rehearsals start Monday”

Payton climbed off the stage and sat in a seat next to River “You didn’t have to do that you know” he mumbled as Infinity walked out onto the stage

“My name is Infinity Jackson and I’m specifically trying out for the role of Squeaky Fromme” As Infinity sang Payton’s head gently rested on River’s shoulder. It wasn’t something he would normally do in public but his head was pounding, the stress from recent events catching up to him. It wasn’t until the stage manager spoke again that Payton immediately sat up realising he must have fallen asleep

“Congratulations Infinity that was a remarkable consider yourself the newest Squeaky Fromme” the audition manager smiled. Payton mumbled a quick sorry to River before standing up and walking out of the auditorium leaving his sheet music on the floor.

* * *

­­River knocked on the doorframe of Payton’s room

“Uh you left this in the auditorium” Payton looked up

“Oh, just leave it on the piano” he says looking back to his computer. River made his way over sitting on the edge of his bed

“Whatcha doin?” he asked watching Payton write sentence after sentence

“I’m writing a proposal to principal Vaughn asking the school musical budget get extended.” He sighed not looking up

“You’re not gonna get anywhere. the school musical is funded solely by donations so unless you want to fork out a couple grand you wont be getting it”

“See this is why I want to be president. The arts don’t get nearly as much attention as they need. I bet the president is in the White House right now watching Netflix not realising how hard it is for all of those shoes to be at his disposal”

“And I have complete and utter faith you can make that happen”

* * *

Ricardo stood on the stage of the St Sebastian’s auditorium as the director spoke to him

“I don’t think you can be in the show if you don’t go here” he shrugged

“Well I used to go here” he defends “but I dropped out a couple years ago. And I talked to the career counsellor about enrolling in some night classes to get my GED so technically I will be a student here. look I know you need guys, and I really wanna be a part of this show”

“Oh okay, well you do have to audition. Is there a song you’d like to sing?” the director asked

“Yeah. I’m gonna sing ‘beneath a moonless sky’ from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s _love never dies_ it’s the sequel to _Phantom of the opera_ hit it ms piano DJ”

* * *

The musical cast sat in a circle as the director began to speak

“Congratulations, cast of Stephen Sondheim’s _Assassins_. Now uh I think you all know one another but I’d like to introduce Ricardo, he is a continuing education student here” River sat between Infinity and Ricardo “and he is our John Wilkes Booth”

“I will never forgive you for this” Infinity whispers over River

“Now before we dive in with some getting to know you exercises, Daria is going to be giving each of you a dramaturgical packet of all the characters portrayed in this play because I really want us to go deep here. I want every one of you to become these characters because we have to remember, a villain never thinks he’s a villain. He is the hero of his own story” The students moved into an exercise. The director called instructions and praised Ricardo.

Later, they moved into a trust exercise. Infinity stood on the desk with Ricardo and Payton underneath

“I don’t want to do this” Infinity shook her head. River took this as his cue, he stood on the floor in front of Infinity

“It’s pretty scary right Infinity?” he asked “But I know for a fact that you’re going to be okay. Because Payton and Ricardo are right there to catch you. I would trust Payton with my life, in fact he’s saved it a couple times. And….” He paused “I don’t know Ricardo, but he was your boyfriend right? I think he would move mountains to save you too. So how about I count to three with you?” Infinity nodded anxiously and when River’s soothing voice reached three, Infinity fell delicately into Payton and Ricardo’s arms.

* * *

“I don’t believe it” James shakes his head

“Two votes? How did she even know that?” McAfee leant back in her chair arms crossed

“She counted them” Alice deadpans. Her and Payton still weren’t on the greatest of terms but he needed her to succeed and her love for him made her willing to do anything for Payton to succeed.

“No this is bullshit. She’s lying. The model said we had like an 80% chance of winning” James turned to McAfee for guidance. Payton sat with his shoulders hunched and eyes red from his poor sleep the night before thinking as McAfee began to speak, each word getting louder than the last.

“The model isn’t the problem. The problem is you assuming high turnout early in the day would continue later in the day. Which is A, stupid and-“ McAfee was cut off by Alice whose arm had snaked around Payton’s shoulder

“Both of you shut up!” she bites

“The fact is that we lost okay? You can go back and forth about fault, but e will still face the fact that the voters rejected our message, that we don’t have their confidence, okay? Our real problem is that we now have two big secrets okay? River won and we knew Infinity did not have cancer. If either of those facts ever get out our careers are over”

“I think you’re exhausted, we all just need to calm down” James says

“Do not interrupt me James!” Payton bites everyone in the cafeteria turned to look at them, Payton’s voice shifted to a hushed whisper “This is what happens guys okay? We have two little secrets. Hey we didn’t actually win. And hey you remember that girl with cancer? We knew that she did not have cancer and we opted not to tell her. Okay? Next campaign there’ll be, I don’t know, two more and then fifteen years from now, I’m running for senate and we have forty skeletons in our closet” Payton turned down a tangent talking about things he knew were unlikely but his anxiety catching up to him. Right now he needed River. no River was what got him into this mess in the first place. His thoughts were soon speaking faster than his mouth can carry

“Payton” McAfee interrupted bringing his attention back to the task at hand “How can we help?” she asked

“Give me your loyalty”

“You have our loyalty” James replies

“then put it in writing. Sign a non-disclosure agreement” Alice hands two books over the table to James and McAfee. McAfee scoffed to this statement, Alice wasn’t good for Payton she thought to herself. Both him and Alice were better apart.

“You’ve gotta be kidding” James raises his eyebrows in disbelief

“Noone is kidding anyone James” Payton deadpans

“During the term of your service and at all times hereafter you hereby agree not to disclose, disseminate or publish any confidential information in any way detrimental to Mr Hobart” McAfee read

“This is all very standard stuff. Its boilerplate McAfee” Alice jumps in. McAfee doesn’t bat an eyelid at Alice’s aggressive tone and merely continues to read

“Breach of said agreement will be entitled to all remedies including but not limited to monetary damages of five million dollars? I don’t believe this” she asks choking out the words looking up at Payton. She was shocked that Payton would dare assume he couldn’t trust her but she supposed this was all Alice whispering in his ear

“Payton. We’ve been friends since we were eight. You can trust us” James defends turning to McAfee in fear, he had never seen her like this

“Okay good, then none of this is an issue and you should have no problem putting it in writing, look. Right now we’re all great friends right? We’re all in this together but when the stakes get higher, friendships fall. So sign the NDA’s and we can ensure that that never happens”

“I signed mine ten minutes ago” and if Alice couldn’t get any more annoying in this moment McAfee wanted to burn her alive. Payton’s arm snaked around Alice’s waist and as though to say ‘see it can be done’ Payton also pointed to her

“I just think 5 million is a little over the top” McAfee sneered signing the form

“for the record this is insane” James quickly followed McAfee in signing the form

“Thankyou” Payton smiles taking the forms back. After James and Alice had cleared out, McAfee pulled a paper takeaway box out of her bag

“Payton” McAfee says calmly “You seem really stressed. I mean, I know you’re stressed and worn out and pissed off so I thought this might cheer you up. It’s red velvet. Skye and I made a whole batch. I hope it taste okay” Payton looked down at the cupcake that read ‘prez’ in black icing “Hey” she rested her hand on Payton’s forearm “I’ve got your back” she smiled. Payton put the cupcake on the table and watched it. A nap that was all he wanted, River came over and sat in front of him. Payton didn’t look up

“Do you want a bite?” he asked in reference to the cupcake

“Nah, thanks man but Lacrosse finals are this weekend gotta be on my A game” Payton just nodded in response “You’re tired. Let me drive you home”

“You don’t have to do that River” Payton sat up straighter

“I insist” he smiles the way he always did.

* * *

Payton coughed and threw up into the toilet, he had lost count of how many times this had happened in the past hour. He heard the voices of his mother and a man but his head was spinning so much he was unable to comprehend a word they were saying. He sat up long enough to speak

“It’s probably just a bug mum” he groaned before throwing up again. The last thing Payton remembered was the man saying

“We need to get him to a hospital”

James and McAfee came into Payton’s private hospital suite mumbling

“Are you okay is it something you ate?” McAfee asked

“I’m okay now” Payton nods “But… this is bad you guys I’m genuinely scared okay? First we find out I’m not a legitimate president then someone tries to assassinate me”

“Wait hold on. Are you sure you didn’t just like have a bad oyster or something?” McAfee asks

“Someone tried to kill me. James” he sneers

“Okay I don’t think we need to jump to conclusions” James raises his arms in defence

“Yeah why would someone do that?”

“Ronald Reagan. At the nadir of his popularity, he’s leaving the Washington Hilton and John Hinckley opens fire, Reagan is hit and his agent Brady gets shot in the head and paralysed for life”

“Payton, Everyone agrees that was a tragedy-“ James starts but is cut off by Payton speaking again

“Abe Lincoln James” he says “When you become president, people come after you James. People who want to stop what you’re doing, people who want someone else in office doing something different, and people that are just nuts. I barfed my guts out James, okay? It’s not like I just ate a bad oyster, I was puking blood. I was poisoned. McAfee tried to kill me”

“Wait. Mac..McAfee?” James gawked in disbelief

“Yeah ask her” he spooned jelly out of his cup

“McAfee, did you poison Payton” he sighed

“Yeah. I think I did” she admits

“Wait what?” James asks

“I didn’t mean to” she stammers “Skye and I made those cupcakes. I made the cake and Skye made the icing. Then we had them, they were fine. But Skye wanted to make a special cake for Payton with icing I didn’t see her make I didn’t think anything of it, who poisons someone? But now I think she had to have. She’d been talking about getting rid of you and I thought it was just talk”

“Are you kidding me? when were you gonna mention this?” James yells

“Get out” Payton says calmly

“I didn’t think she’d actually kill him” McAfee raises her hands in defence

“Get out!” Payton yells again “You’re off the team, I don’t ever want to see you again”

“Payton please” she cries desperately

“McAfee. It’s over. leave”

* * *

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Skye scoffs in annoyance

“Why did you put special icing on Payton’s cupcake” McAfee accused

“Because I wanted to write a message on it to be nice, McAfee” Skye crossed her arms defensively

“What was in the icing Skye” McAfee put her hands on her hips

“Sugar and butter bitch! I will not sit here and be accused of trying to murder someone, when making cupcakes was your idea”

“Three days earlier, which means you had plenty of time to-“

“And I went along with it, which now I realise I shouldn’t have, because I wanted to do something nice for someone who I actually think is an idiot, and who I can’t stand. So if you want to believe I tried to murder Payton, so I could be student body president, I have two things to say to you-“

“-I’m just trying to understand”

“Number one. Screw you. Number two I’m dumping your ass, and I’ probably doing you a favour because I don’t think you’re gay you tight ass stuck up tourist. If you were, you’d know your way around a woman’s body. Which, just so you know? you don’t” Skye stood up and walked out of the diner driving herself home.

Skye called out to ensure nobody else was home and then went upstairs pouring rat poison down the drain in her kitchen, she then grabbed the scissors out of the second drawer and shredded the boxing it came in, hiding it at the bottom of her automatic bin, pushing it shut so it would close faster, she madly washed her hands pumping the soap dispenser one too many times but moving her hand before it could catch the liquid watching it pour on the sink as she hastily washed her hands.

* * *

Georgina walked to the door after hearing it ring opening it to reveal Brigid.

“What are you doing here” she whispered loudly stepping outside

“I need to talk to you”

“Not here. god, my husband is upstairs. He’s finishing a giant jigsaw puzzle of Peggy Guggenheim’s venetian Palazzo”

“Stables. 15 minutes”

When Georgina arrived at the stables, Brigid was already there.

“I thought you went to work on a dude ranch in Wyoming?” Georgina asked as she tacked up her horse

“Montana. It’s beautiful, I saw a man get murdered by a bear”

“I don’t think a bear can murder a man, he can kill him, but murdering sounds like there’s malicious intent”

“My point is, it’s all so real there. You could use some real”

“I made a commitment to my son, if I leave, he loses everything”

“He will lose you if you stay. You will start resenting him, maybe not today, but someday soon, I’m flying back tomorrow. Come with me”

“Tomorrow?”

* * *

River sat in the front row of the auditorium watching Payton and Infinity perform, he smiled a little when Payton made eye contact with him from the front row and when they were done he was the loudest applause in the whole joint.

“That was really good Payton” he smiles nudging him “You too Infinity, I really see this coming together”

“I still don’t know why you didn’t audition” Payton says taking a sip from a reusable water bottle

“You know as well as I do that performing isn’t really my thing”

“But you play lacrosse, everyone knows that sports get twice the turnout as arts do at St Sebastians”

“Your job isn’t to project to the audience when you play lacrosse. Besides you wouldn’t want me to take the lead in the musical from you either” his words were intended as a joke, but the thought made his blood boil, that was the moment Payton knew that his ambition would drive away everyone who ever loved him. Including his own mother.

River wasn’t the only person sitting in the audience, in the third row McAfee smiled to Payton and he made his way over to her excusing himself from River and Infinity.

“That was great, the shows gonna be really good”

“Thanks, listen, I’m really glad that you’re here, I actually did want to apologise, I was um, quite exhausted and dehydrated and I, well I jumped to sort of an insane conclusion”

“I don’t think you did. Skye swears up and down that she didn’t do it, and maybe we’ll never know, but there’s a possibility that she did poison you. And that’s on me for not seeing it sooner, the fact is, this is hard to talk about and I should’ve earlier, and I can’t believe I didn’t and I don’t know why I didn’t-“

“Didn’t what” Payton cut her off

“Tell you, Skye and I have been having a love affair, since a few weeks before she joined the ticket”

“OH my… you’ve gotta…. You’ve gotta be kidding me. complete honesty, right? Isn’t that we agreed on? Total transparency right?”

“I know Payton, it was bad. But I had something for myself, you’re not in charge of my personal life. Anyway it’s over, I’m sorry, I’m- what else do you want me to say?”

“Nothing. I think you and I should part ways” Payton turned to walk away

“Payton!” McAfee called after him, he turned around

“You know what? I wish you well McAfee but we’re done” he walked back to the stage.

* * *

Later on backstage, Ricardo stood at the costume rack as Payton walked up to him,

“Ricardo, can I uh talk to you. In private, just for a quick second” he apologised to a dresser and pulled Ricardo away “First of all, great job out there man, I really think that once you uh sort of modulate that performance, then it’s gonna be really effective. You know what they say man, less is more. So uh I wanted to talk about this gun”

“It’s just a bb gun and I need it” Ricardo defends

“Okay, but uh, John Wilkes Booth didn’t actually use a rifle. He used a handgun”

“I wanna use a rifle” he shrugged

“Okay, well um, as you know I’m student body president, and a significant part of my platform was about gun reforms, so I can’t really be part of a show where an actors holding a gun, when he doesn’t need to”

“It’s not a gun”

“Okay, well it looks like a gun, so either figure out a way to butcher that song without it, or I take this up with the school board. Either way, I’m winning this fight”

“Maybe it is a gun” he pointed it at Payton as the president slowly turned around “Bang!” Ricardo cried as Payton jumped in fear, he laughed sarcastically “Just kidding” he grinned before raising the gun for real and shooting it into the back of Payton’s leg causing him to collapse in pain.

* * *

Dusty Jackson pressed play on the ancient juke box that stood in the ancient bar as she waited for Ricardo to appear.

“So is it done?” she asked

“Yeah”

“OH!” she sighed happily

“I might just order a drink”

“What are you talking about? You’re 18”

“I thought you didn’t mind if I drink around you?”

“just listen. I want you to tell me what happened, and then you and I are gonna go our separate ways and we are never gonna speak about this again, okay?”

“You shot him, yes?”

“Yeah” both Dusty and Ricardo laughed manically “Right in the ass, he screamed like a bitch. And I was like ‘whoops! I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to do that’”

“No no, wait. He ran off screaming a drove home? Wait a minute, you shot him in the ass?”

“I wanted the bb to get lodged in his ass so it’d be hard to pull out”

“A bb?” Dusty groans “The plan wasn’t to shoot him with a bb gun!”

“I’ve been doin all this research for this role I’ve been playin right? I’ve been learnin about all these famous assassinations, have you ever heard of Philoctetes?” Dusty groaned “Yeah? Well you should check him out, because he was this famous Greek warrior who wanted to bone down with Helen of Troy, and he got shot with an arrow that was dipped in the gallbladder of the hydra which is like a mythological creature, but still I was like ‘that’s it’ and there’s this possum that somebody ran over right by my uncles house. And it got ran over like a while ago, and I didn’t know which part was his gallbladder so I pulled out all of its guts and I mashed em up, and I got these holly pointed air gun pellets and I soaked em in it overnight, I buried the pellet at least two inches deep into the muscle putting all that dead possum guts bacteria straight into his bloodstream, it’s called sepsis and you die of it. Your organs shut down or something”

“Jesus christ. You didn’t do what I asked dimwit! I am trying to get my granddaughter back you twat!”

“Calm down”

“No! don’t tell me to calm down”

“Shut up and sit down”

“Sorry, family stuff”

“He’ll be dead by morning. And I can say it was an accident, and you weren’t connected in anyway at all, okay?”

“Okay. Thank you, Ricardo”

* * *

Payton lay in bed sickly as Georgina pulled the thermometer out of his mouth

“another fever” she sighed

“I think I’m just run down this time” Payton insists, this was met with Georgina’s sigh “You’re so sad”

“I love you so much”

“And that makes you sad?” he asked confused

“My mother was very cold, at least that’s what my babysitter told me. she wasn’t really around enough for me to get a sense of her. So I had no model for what a mother was, no model to reject or to embrace. I had very little natural instinct for it. Which is why your brothers turned out so poorly and when we adopted you, I sat down and I made a list of how a perfect mother would be, gentle, endlessly loving, patient, trusting and selfless”

“That’s exactly how I would describe you”

“I don’t know if I can be those things anymore”

“A person can’t be truly selfless and survive”

“I was no one until you came into my life, I was a corked bottle floating in the sea, the tide pushing me wherever I wanted to the note inside me was blank. I’m only who I want to be. When I’m in relation to you”

“That’s too much pressure to put on me. In a year I’ll be out of the house, thousands of miles away”

“Were you planning on moving to Cambridge?”

“Maybe not full time” Payton let out a pained laugh “Mum, I don’t need the money. I don’t. I’m not like Martin, or Luther, or even Dad. I’ll find my way no matter what”

“I’m in love for the first time in my life. It might be real, it might just be an escape hatch. But I feel like, if I don’t give it a try, I will die here” Payton reached out to hold his mothers hand

“Then go, you don’t need my permission, but I give it to you”

“You will always be the love of my life” Georgina leant over to hug her son but pulled back in shock “Honey, you’re soaking wet/ I want you to take a cold shower, I’m gonna call the doctor” Payton stood up to walk to the bathroom but felt dizzy, lightheaded and shaky

“Mum? I love you” he collapsed on the floor of his bedroom, Georgina let out a yell and called into the phone

“Somebody come help me please. Payton” she lent down over him “Wake up” she frantically continued to call for help “This is Georgina Hobart, I need an ambulance immediately, my son is very ill”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I should end this by saying I DO NOT HATE ALICE I do however believe that in many of the moments throughout this story arc McAfee grew incredibly frustrated not only with Alice but with everyone in the show, and as we all know when McAfee is frustrated by something she is very passionate about it and that was expressed in her mean thoughts about Alice.


End file.
